This is one of the few times when a gun was helpful, but it's anecdotal evidence. I need some concrete numbers to weigh the costs and benefits. The benefits of owning guns are few, but the costs are many. Consider:
- In 2003, 11,290 Americans were killed by Assault by Firearm. If you add up all other forms of murder, you don't even get half that many. The number of murders would drop if guns were outlawed. Some would still occur
- In 2003, 730 people were killed by accidental discharge of firearms. Gun accidents that could have been drastically reduced if guns weren't easily available.
- In 2003, there were 16,907 suicides by firearm. I know a good portion of these people would still kill themselves if the didn't have access to a gun. But blowing your brains out is the easiest way to do it. A number would be saved.
- There were 232 other deaths caused by firearm where the police weren't able to figure out what the intent was; ie was it murder, suicide, or accident.
This data comes from the NSC's website:
Odds of Dying - NSC
Firstdown, that CCW data you posted is from 1992, before the Brady Bill even went into effect. It's so old, it's completely irrelevant now. Not to mention a quite biased source of information. If you can provide some relevant, unbiased statistics on guns as a crime deterrent, I'm all ears. But I haven't seen any, and I've looked.